What is the Purpose of a Yarn Bowl?

Rida Younis
3 min readApr 13, 2021

Have you ever stumbled upon a curious-looking piece of some knitting type thing in your local yarn shop which you did not know that even existed until now? Well, you will learn all about it as in the knitting business; you must have an idea about the purpose of a yarn bowl. Do not worry if you are a little new to the knitting thing, as we are going to investigate fairly about the yarn bowls in this article.

Yarn Bowl

How does the yarn bowl work?

There is a cutout in the yarn bowls whose purpose is to act as the guide for the yarn while working. The yarn you are going to work on is put in the bowl and placed through this cutout. The ball of the yarn can roll easily because the weight of the yarn bowl is kept according to this in mind, so the yarn will not roll away or get tangled while working.

What is the use of a yarn bowl?

A yarn bowl is a bowl or a tool you use to handle your yarn while you comfortably knit. It is the solution to the mess which happens when the yarn balls keep bouncing and rolling across the room floor during the knitting project. I’m sure you must have encountered the same problem, and yes, it is a very annoying thing. A yarn bowl protects you from this mess.

Why can’t you use the center-pull ball instead?

If you have a ball that is wound by hand, then sometimes the only remaining option is to knit from the outside of the ball, but if you pull the ball or cake of the yarn from the center, this can lead to the over-twisting of your yarn. It can lead to a twisted garment or a biased knitted fabric. This is the reason that it is imperative to choose a yarn bowl that can suit all your needs well.

Points to keep in mind while choosing a yarn bowl

Here are some handy points that need to be kept in mind if you want a good yarn bowl:

· Choose such a yarn bowl that has a significant base. A wide vase can prevent the bowl from tipping over in case you have a yarn ball that is quite heavy or big.

· There should be an opening in the yarn bowl where your yarn can slip from the top rather than having a simple hole. This would help in taking out the project quite efficiently. If you have an opening in the bowl like I mentioned, then you can even start more than one project at the same time.

· The wood or the pottery of the bowl should be really smooth from where yarn comes out of it. If there is even the slightest rough edge in the area, then it will get caught with the yarn and tangle it.

· If your yarn bowl has a high wall, then it would be the best; otherwise, the yarn ball may spin out right away.

You can buy some good yarn bowls from Etsy or Amazon, but if you don’t have that kind of budget yet, then you can also DIY the bowl. You can use the zip bag for the function of a yarn bowl. Use a little opening in the zip bag for working with yarn, and guess what? It is relatively cheap and also transportable. A giant teapot can also be used for a similar purpose. I think now you have got the purpose of a yarn bowl.

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Rida Younis

An Electrical Engineer Turned Professional Content Writer